Angels Would Fall
by Cobalite
Summary: (R-Rated Version) Something bad is about to happen in LA, and Buffy can do nothing to prevent it. All she can do is be there for her falling Angel. Post-Season Four only, and you'll see why when you read it.


Author's Notes: I take angst to the limits. At some point or another, I have killed Willow, Xander, Buffy, Spike, Riley, and Faith. Now I add one more to the list. Even vampires don't live forever. There are a few vague references to my story What If She Didn't Not Remember, which explains why Cordelia has her memories of the forgotten day.

Angels Would Fall

The doctor looked at the results of the CAT scan with great sadness. "I'm terribly sorry, sir, but from the results of your new test, and the scans you showed me from last year, it's obvious the cancer is progressing."

The man's face betrayed no emotion. "I was sure it had. Especially when the headaches started again. Is there anything you can do for me?"

"Not at this time. I really am terribly sorry. Surgery that close to the brain stem is dangerous, and is more likely to leave you paralyzed than help." This was what every neurologist hated, telling a man in the prime of his life he was going to be dead within weeks.

"I have a lot of work to do before I go, Doctor. Thank you for your help. If I can, I'll be back next month for an update." He stood, and shook the doctor's hand.

"Tell me, how long have you had this tumor? It's quite pronounced for a man your age. You should already have begun loss of function." Dr. Todd was curious.

"It feels like centuries." He left the office, and went into the lobby where she waited for him.

"Well?" She had hope spread across her face.

"It's spread. It will be over soon." She burst out crying and he gave her a hug. "It'll be alright."

She wrenched herself free. "No, no it's not! You're gonna die, and leave me alone."

"Cordelia, it's not like I have a choice."

"No, you don't. But just like Doyle, you're gonna die and leave me alone. You're all I have left, Angel."

Trying not to read too much into her comment, Angel led her towards his car. They rode most of the way in silence, until she was calm enough to speak. "How long have you know about this?"

Angel couldn't look her in the eye. "Since Whistler found me. He said I had redemption to seek, and not much time to do it in. We just thought I'd have more than four years."

"What happened? I mean, you're a vamp, and you're not supposed to age." Since Angel had told her last night, Cordelia had been in shock.

"I'm probably the oldest vampire in existence, Cordy. No one's quite sure how long I spent in hell, but it was a very, very long time." He pulled up in front of the office.

"Has Wesley finished translating that battle list yet?" Cordelia was in no hurry to end this conversation. "I mean, what's the point of having a destiny if you can't fulfil it?"

"It's done, Cordelia. Very soon, I'll face a final demon. I'll kill it, and my redemption will be complete." Angel opened her car door, and they walked into the building.

"Was Wesley right? To Shanshu means you'll die?" Cordelia asked.

"No, I'll become human. It's just, the cancer's so advanced, I'll only have about 24 hours as a living man." Angel paused to grab a bottle of whiskey.

"Plan on telling me the whole sorted story?" Cordelia pulled a pair of Doyle's favorite shot glasses from the shelf.

"Yeah." 

Buffy tossed and turned in the fitful sleep of a Slayer Dream.

She opened her dream eyes, and seemed to be in a man's bedroom. An Irish voice came from across the room. "They could have at least called when ya died. It just ain't right."

Buffy recognized the man as Doyle. "I'm not dead! Why would you think something like that?"

"You can see me Lass, and I am most defiantly dead. I'm guessing the Powers That Be are trying to tell you something." Doyle was beginning to understand. Obviously, someone upstairs wanted Buffy to know her vampire was dying up here in LA.

It was then Buffy noticed she could see through both Doyle and herself. "I'm dreaming. How'd you die?"

"Fried myself on a soul eater. Last night, I found out why he wanted to do it."

Buffy gave him an odd look. "Why?"

The air shifted, and suddenly it was several hours ago. The elevator clanked down the shaft. "I'll let him tell you. Don't worry, no one can see or hear us."

Cordelia's voice could clearly be heard. "And pray tell exactly how long have you know about this?"

"Since before the Ascension. It wasn't all guilt when I wouldn't feed from Buffy." Angel cracked open the bottle, and poured two shots.

Doyle gave a little smile Buffy didn't understand. He clarified. "My brand, my glasses. I was a notorious drunk."

"How can you be so calm? I thought we agreed you wanted to live." Cordelia winced as the liquor burned down her throat.

"I do want to live, Cordy. I guess you want me to tell you everything?" 

'Cordy?' Buffy found herself burn in anger. 'She doesn't let anyone call her that since she and Xander broke up. Who the hell does he think he is?' It took a second for the rest to register. 'Live?'

"When I was a young man, just after Katherine was born, I started to get horrible headaches. I dealt with it for years, but the painkillers of the time made my head useless for the merchant business. I stopped taking them, and started drinking."

"Does it still hurt that much?" Cordelia couldn't imagine being in pain for almost a decade.

"Not really. Being a vampire means everything, well, almost everything is one step removed. After I got well last year, I got some fake papers and went to see a doctor." Angel leaned back, and stared at the ceiling. "He told me the tumor was pressing against the brain stem, and that I had a month to live."

Cordelia did the calculations in her head. "So your metabolism is at least fifteen times slower than a normal human's?"

"Should be even slower, but I haven't been feeding very well lately. After that Bliss thing, Angelus has been screaming, and starving him a little tends to shut him up." Angel hated to admit it, because it meant she'd make him feed, right in front of her.

He was right of course. Cordelia rose from her seat, went into the kitchen, nuked a bag of 0-, and tossed it to him. "You have to take better care of yourself. Turning to dust at this stage is like collapsing on the one yard line."

Buffy's head reeled with what she'd just learned. "He's, he's dying?"

Doyle handed her an ethereal tissue. "It was why he was able to give you up again, Buffy. Why he wants so desperately to stop the end of days."

They talked for a few more minutes before he started to fade, and Buffy awoke with a start. Willow sat on her bed brushing her hair. "Are you okay? That must have been a pretty weird dream."

"Slayer dream." Buffy gets up and starts to dress. "I have to go to LA. Something's wrong with Angel."

"You had a Slayer dream about him? I see. Should I wig now or latter?" Willow opened her jewelry box and exchanged her Star of David for a cross that provided more protection.

"Don't wig at all. Something strange is going on up there, and I'm gonna find out what." Buffy slid on her cross, and looked back to Willow. "Just don't tell Riley what's going on."

After borrowing her mother's car, Buffy was on her way to LA and destiny. 

Cordelia was desperately searching for her aspirin when the door swung open. It was just before nine. "Be right with you. If you'd take a seat?" She didn't look up.

"Don't think I could. Did you know there's heavy traffic on the freeway at 7am?" Buffy almost grinned as Cordelia banged her head on the desk.

"Buffy! What are you doing here?" Cordelia shakily stood, clutching her Excedrin.

"Oddest thing happened last night. Your friend Doyle showed up in my dream last night." Buffy decided to take that seat after all.

"Doyle?" Cordelia's voice squeaked. "Tell me you didn't drive two hours to tell me about some freaky dream you had about a dead guy."

Buffy's eyes wandered to the empty bottle of Whiskey by the coffee machine. "You two must have had quite a conversation last night. I'm surprised you can still think after drinking half of that."

Cordelia gave her a suspicious look as she dry swallowed her aspirin. "Built up a resistance to headaches during my psychotic episode. I could do calculus with a concussion by this point."

"Then what's with the pills?"

"I had a vision, repeatedly. It didn't stop even after Angel left to fight the demon." Cordelia looked at the sun outside the window, worried. 

It wasn't the sun that worried her, or even the thought that her highly allergic boss was out in it. It was what last nights battle had meant towards Angel's redemption, what she had been shown. "How did you know I was drinking last night?"

"I had a Slayer dream. I want to know if what I saw was true." Buffy put her feet up on Angel's desk. "I want to know if Angel is really dying."

Cordelia made a growling sound deep in her throat, a result of spending way too much time around Angel this summer. "The PTB just had to drag you into this, didn't they? They couldn't just let him be."

"Cordelia, I don't know or care who the PTB are. All I know is some dead guy dragged my dreams to LA, and showed me my Angel was dying." Buffy didn't even realize she'd called him her Angel.

Cordelia did. "You two are such masochists. You can't stay together, you can't stay apart, and the last time you two met on good terms the world almost ended."

"Graduation?" Somehow, Buffy was sure that wasn't what Cordelia meant.

"No." The clock chose that minute to strike nine. "Hide, now." Buffy started to object, but Cordelia cut her off. "Please."

Buffy slipped into Angel's private office. Exactly two minutes later the front door opened and a disheveled Angel walked in. "Is it over?"

"Yeah. That's it." Angel stared at his reflection in the mirror. For now, his optic nerves were holding up, but Angel knew that they would most likely be the first to fail.

"There's someone here to see you." Cordelia handed Angel a cup of what she had the nerve to call coffee. She thought of it as his last bit of penance to taste it as a human before he died.

Angel suppressed a groan. "I just spent all night killing a horde of plague bearing demons and their Morah master. Who ever is here can wait until tomorrow when I'm dead."

"You pick now of all times to get a sense of humor." Cordelia shook her head in disgust. "I don't think she'll take no for an answer."

Angel sighed, and put hand on the knob. "It's not Kate is it? I'd rather never have to deal with her again, and this is really down to the wire."

The voice that came from the office shocked Angel. In fact, he would have been less surprised to see God himself sitting at his desk. "No, I think I could do more damage to you than a cop at this point." Buffy was leaned back in his chair, her hands folded in the classic mobster position.

Angel spun around. "Did you call her?"

"No. She just showed up. Buffy's like that when you do things behind her back. Try not to die before Wesley gets back from England." Cordelia, with all her tactlessness, knew when to leave the two of them alone. She gave him a hug, and whispered, "I'm gonna miss you."

"I know. But you'll live. You're young, and someday you'll get that acting break." Angel returned her hug, and watched Cordelia leave the office for what might be his final time. He then turned back to Buffy. "Did I miss an Apocalypse, or are you here to argue with me again?"

"Neither. I'm here because you need me, whether or not either of us wants to admit it." Buffy stood, and walked over to him. She pressed her hand against his chest. "So it's true then. You're alive, only to die the next day."

Angel gave her a morbid half smile. "Sounds like an Alanis Morriset song."

Temporarily of track, Buffy had to ask, "You listen to Alanis?"

"Not me." Angel had the good grace to look sheepish. "Faith does. She says torturing me into listening to her music is good therapy."

Buffy just shook her head. "Probably don't want to know, do I? Back to the subject at hand." Buffy slapped him.

"Hey! What was that for?" Angel brought a hand to his cheek.

"For having the gall to try and die without telling me. Let's see; you've done this twice already. Once, there was divine intervention, and the second time I broke Slayer taboo and sliced open my sister in arms."

"I was gonna tell you." Angel lied through his teeth.

"No you weren't." Buffy rolled her eyes, unaware her hand was still gripping one of his.

"Are we gonna fight about this? Because it's gonna have to be a quick one. I have things to rap up." Angel tried to use his normal nonchalance to cover any allusion of emotion, any hint of memory.

"No, we're not going to fight. I don't want you to die alone, Angel. Both of us have had to do it. I can't let you go through that again." Buffy could still feel the chill of the water as the Master drowned her, and Angel unconsciously shivered, remembering the alley he died in. Her clenched hand touched his pulse point, and she snapped back to reality. "Let me stay with you."

Angel relented. He had to admit, he wasn't really looking forward to the next sunrise, which he knew would be his last. "Alright."

Detective Kate Lockely looked up in shock. A man had just walked in the front door of her precinct. Nothing unusual, except it was broad daylight, and that man was the vampire called Angel. "What the hell?"

Angel hadn't wanted to come here, to deal with her again, but seeing Buffy had changed his mind. "We need to talk."

She closed the door to her office. "What do you want, and how are you here?"

"I came to say goodbye." Angel sat down across from her.

"You're leaving LA." Kate wasn't sorry that he was leaving.

"Not exactly."

"Then all this has been an act and you're here to kill me." To be honest, it was what she had suspected from the beginning.

"No." Angel pulled the silver cross from beneath his shirt. "I'm not gonna be around much longer, and Buffy's convinced me not to let it end this way with you."

"That's a cross." It pounded through her skull. 'Cross, cross, cross.' "It's impossible."

"I've finally atoned. Your God, the one who saw fit to cast me to hell two years ago, is calling me home." Maybe it wasn't the way a twentieth century Christian saw it, but it was the way a Eighteenth century Irish Catholic did.

"I-I don't understand." Kate struggled to clear her mind.

"I don't expect you to, not yet at least. You've been chosen for the cause, that much is clear to me. Don't over look the big things here, don't get too caught up in the supernatural, Kate, because some of the worst monsters in LA are human." Angel stood, and headed for the door.

"It's been horrid knowing you, Angel."

"I get that a lot." Angel walked back out to his car, where Buffy waited for him.

"How'd it go?"

"No worse than I expected. At least she didn't try to kill me this time." Angel slid into the driver's seat.

"Where to next?" Buffy leaned against him, almost without thought as they pulled out of the garage.

Harry opened the door, surprised to see Angel standing there. "Francis told me you destroyed the ring."

"I did. Harry, I want you to meet Buffy. Buffy, this is Harriet, Doyle's ex-wife." Angel watched the shocked expression play across Buffy's face. Perhaps he should have made it clear Harry was a woman?

Harry smiled. "I've read so much about you. I never thought I'd get the chance to meet the Slayer."

"I have a message for you."

Angel gave Buffy a strange look. 'Did I miss something?'

Buffy walked into the apartment, Angel following her after pausing for the no longer needed invitation. "During my Slayer dream, I talked to someone both of you knew. He had a message for you, Harry."

Harry got just a little pale. Angel and herself only knew one person in common. Her mouth was dry. "What was it?"

"Doyle said, that even if what you two had was over, even if you had both moved on, that he still cared about you enough to almost get his brains eaten." Buffy got an odd look on her face. "Can either of you explain that to me?"

Angel and Harry's eyes met, and they both burst out laughing. It was so like Doyle to make a heartfelt message sound like some B-rated Horror Movie.

They said their good-byes, and Angel made sure to give Harry Giles' number. The Hellmouth could use a resident Demonologist.

Buffy had to ask. "Why are we knocking on the door of an abandoned building?"

"It's not abandoned." Angel knocked harder. "Chain, come on, just open the door already."

The door opened a crack, and a teenaged boy stuck his head out. "We weren't sure it was you. Cause man, it's sunny out."

"I've been hearing that all day. Is Gunn around?"

Chain nodded, and let them in. "Who's the blond?"

Buffy gave him the look. "This blond could kick your ass to New York if she wanted to, so no comments, deal?"

"Yeah." Chain swallowed hard, and pointed. "He's broodin' in there. You giving him lessons?"

"It rubs of on people. Come on, Buffy." Angel pushed open the door. "Gunn, it's me."

"Angel, my man." Gunn stood up and walked over. "You come in through the sewers?"

"No. I want you to meet Buffy Summers." Angel motions to her.

"Nice, but are you gonna share why I should care about your girl?" Gunn ran his eyes over Buffy.

Buffy was so sick of comments like that. Before he knew what was happening, Gunn was flat on his back. "Nice little operation you have here. But jut to let you know, the real Vampire Slayer is back in LA."

"Uhuh." He stood when she let him. "We're not shutting down. This neighborhood needs us."

"I know it does." Buffy stuck out her hand, and he shook it.

"I'm not gonna be around much longer, so I wanted you to meet Buffy. She'll be around if you need her." Angel said, and then suddenly clenched his head.

Buffy and Gunn barely caught him on the way down. "I thought you were a vampire, dude."

Buffy sighed. "Help me carry him to the car. I think he needs to go home."

Gunn and a few of his men stuffed Angel in the back seat. "We'll see you around, Summers. Welcome to the Hell that is LA."

"Kid, I just got here from hell." Buffy flashed him a grin as she drove Angel's car back towards the office.

Angel pried his eyes open. He was in his bed, with Buffy sitting beside him, watching, and waiting. "What happened?"

"You passed out. I was worried." She curled up beside him. 

Angel downed an aspirin stolen from Cordelia's precious supply. "I left her stock in pharmaceuticals, so maybe she'll forgive me."

"Now that we're here, and both of us are conscious…" Buffy toyed with a button on his shirt. 

Angel turned a little red. "I, uh, don't have anything in the house."

Buffy understood. "Angel, I'm the Slayer. I can't have children, and the last time you were promiscuous safe sex meant waiting until the buggy stopped."

"You never told me that you were infertile."

"Back when fifteen was both the marrying age and a time for Slayers to be called, Council members found that the Slayer genes had evolved to prevent pregnancy. You wouldn't believe how much it took to pry that out of Giles." Buffy worked her way down his shirt, slowly unbuttoning it and kissing the exposed flesh.

The last of Angel's control was just about gone. "What about Riley?"

"Riley who?" Control officially out the window. Buffy began her work on the fastening of his jeans. "This would be a lot easier if you would cooperate." 

"What if I want to retaliate instead?" Buffy suddenly found herself on her back. Angel placed kisses along her jawbone, and then down to his brand on her neck. "Should I be proud this didn't fade, or shamed?"

"Pick somewhere in between and stop brooding. We're in the middle of something." Buffy's voice was already husky with need.

"Good idea." 

They worshiped each other's bodies through the night, both knowing that when the morning finally came, the truth would destroy them both.

They watched the sunrise on his balcony. "Angel? This is the first time I ever really felt this way."

To Angel this was déjà vu, and even though he knew her answer he still asked. "What way?"

"Just like I've always wanted to. Like a normal girl, in the arms of her normal boyfriend. It's perfect." Buffy laid her head on his chest.

"And when it ends?" Angel stroked her forehead.

"I'll stay here, and I'll finish what you started. My dream showed the ritual, and I will kill whatever was in that box. I'll do it for you, because I'll never be able to stop loving you." There were tears in Buffy's eyes. She looked up and saw he was crying to. "Has it started?"

The pain blurred her. "Help me." She guided him into bed. Their last four years began to play in his head like some kind of movie.

__

The rope that's wrapped around me 

Is cutting to my skin 

And the doubts that have surrounded me 

Are finding their way in 

"I should. . ."

Buffy approaches him. "Go. . . You said. . ." They kiss. They kiss again. They kiss passionately. She puts her arm around him. The kiss goes on for several moments. Angel suddenly pulls back and looks away. "What? What is it? What's wrong?" He turns to face her and growls. She sees he has his game face on and screams.

__

I keep it close to me 

Like a holy man prays 

In my desperate hour 

It's better that way 

"When you become a vampire the demon takes your body, but it doesn't get your soul. That's gone! No conscience, no remorse. . . It's an easy way to live. You have no idea what it's like to have done the things I've done. . . and to care. I haven't fed on a living human being since that day."

__

So I'll come by and see you again 

I'll be such a very good friend 

Have mercy on my soul 

I will never let you know 

Where my mind has been 

"You deserve more. You deserve something outside of demons and darkness. You should be with someone who can take you into the light. Someone who can make love to you."

"I don't care about that."

"You will."

__

Angels never came down 

There's no one here they want to hang around 

But if they knew 

If they knew you at all 

Then one by one the angels 

Angels would fall 

"Look, I'm weak. I've never been anything else. It's not the demon in me that needs killing, Buffy. It's the man."

"You're weak. Everybody is. Everybody fails. Maybe this evil did bring you back, but if it did, it's because it needs you. And that means that you can hurt it."

"Angel, you have the power to do real good, to make amends. But if you die now, then all that you ever were was a monster."

__

I've crept into your temple 

I have slept upon your pew 

I've dreamed of the divinity 

Inside and out of you

****

"And I hate it! I hate that it's *so* hard...and that you can hurt me *so* much. I know everything that you did, because you did it to me. Oh, God! I wish that I wished you dead. I don't. I can't."

__

I want it more than truth 

I can taste it on my breath 

I would give my life just for a little death 

So I'll come by and see you again 

I'll be just a very good friend 

"I really doubt that."

"Is there anything I can do to make it better?"

"Look, I know you only did what I asked. And we, we got what we wanted."

"I never wanted it to go that far."

"I know that. It's not even a question of that. It's just, after ... I need a little bit of a break. Please."

"You still my girl?"

"Always."

__

I will not look upon your face 

I will not touch upon your grace 

Your ecclesiastic skin 

I'll come by and see you again 

I'll have to be a very good friend 

Her eyes lock on some thing and her face clears. Angel is standing beside a fire truck looking at her. Both just stare at each other. Buffy blinks and her face falls. She hugs herself a little closer. Angel is first obscured by some firemen walking by, then by a cloud of smoke. The smoke blows by and he steps back, slowly turns around and walks off. 

__

If I whisper they will know 

I'll just turn around and go 

You will never know my sin

Buffy nods slowly. "Yeah. Okay. - So I guess we've covered it, right?"

"I guess we did."

"And that's all there really is to say."

Angel takes a deep breath and looks down on the smashed clock. It stopped at 9:02. When he turns back Buffy is already leaving the outer office. "Yeah. - That's it."

"Buffy?" Angel's voice is barely above a whisper.

"I'm right here." She took a hold of his hand.

"My will is in the top drawer of my dresser. Right next to it is a ring box." Angel's hand gripped hers tighter as the pain ripped through him.

"Go on."

"It's your claddagh ring. I found it when I came back. You should have it." Angel's eyes closed tightly. "Tell Cordy, that if she was good enough to fool **him** then she'll make it in Hollywood. Don't under estimate Wesley. He's actually good for something if you give him the chance. Get Faith out of jail. She can help you, if you'll let her. Give her my jacket, I've seen her eyeing it."

"Angel." Buffy starts to cry.

"Fight the good fight for me Buffy. For all the Warrior that have fallen in battle, and will fall. I want you to remember, tell Cordy to make you remember. I love you."

"I love you too." And then he was gone.

Buffy walked slowly walked up into the main office. Cordelia was at her desk, with her head in her hands. She looked up. "He's gone, isn't he?"

Buffy came up to her, and nodded. Then, the two girls who had been at odds since Buffy's first night in Sunnydale held each other and cried. 

It was that moment Wesley walked into Angel Investigations. "Good Lord, what's happened here?"

Buffy pulled herself away, and walked over to Wesley. "He didn't tell you either, did he?"

"Tell me what?" Wesley set his briefcase down, and noticed the air of despair permeating the office.

Buffy just shook her head. "I have arrangements to make, and there was one last stop on Angel's list. Cordelia can explain everything."

She left the office, and Cordelia rose from her chair. "Wes, I think you'd better sit down."

Faith had started to find herself looking forward to Visitor's Day. Torturing Angel with her loud music, and draining the poison in her soul to someone who actually understood was helping to lift her darkness.

It wasn't Angel she found in the visitation room. It was Buffy. "B! What are you doing here?" Buffy's face was still tear streaked, and all the masks were down. There would be nothing hidden here.

"We have to talk." She sat down across from Faith. "You're getting out of here."

"What? Listen B, you wanted me here more than anyone did. Even I admit I need to be off the streets for a while."

"They arrested you under false pretenses. The warrants were outdated, and issued under the name Faith Wilkenson, and your confession was given under duress. The case will mistrial. You'll be walking out of here in a few hours." Buffy's face was devoid of any emotion.

"What can I say? Thanks, B. But gimme the goods. Why are you helping me out?" Faith hid her hope. Fragile things like that tended to get crushed under Buffy's boot.

"Because Angel asked me to." Buffy placed a box on the table. "He also said you'd want this."

Faith opened the box, and saw Angel's beautiful duster. It had been the object of her affection for two years. "No way he'd give me this. I asked to wear it once and he told me I could have it when I pried it from his cold, dead body."

"It didn't take quite that much. It was hanging in his closet. He left it to you in his will." Buffy watched as Faith's water glass fell to the floor and shattered.

"Who killed him?" Buffy wouldn't answer. "God damn it B! I swear that if it was a human I won't kill them, but give me a name."

"No one killed him, Faith. As a young man, he was a few years away from succumbing to brain cancer. He passed away this morning." Buffy was about ten seconds away from breaking down.

"What are you doing with his ashes?" Faith was already crying. Angel was one of the few people she'd allowed herself to trust, and now he was gone.

T-minus five seconds. "I'm not having him cremated. Redemption earned. Humanity returned." T-minus zero seconds. Buffy began crying right along with Faith.

Riley knocked on the door to Buffy's dorm. Willow cautiously opened it. "Oh. Hi Riley."

"Is Buffy around? She wasn't in class this morning."

"No, she's not here." Willow had just gotten the call from LA. Buffy wouldn't be returning to Sunnydale for a while, and only then to get her stuff.

"Do you know when she'll be back?" Something was worrying him in the back of his mind.

"Riley, why don't you come in." Willow ushered him in to dorm.

"Some thing is wrong, isn't it?" Riley paced the floor.

"There was a problem in LA. Buffy had to go down there." Willow fought the urge to trip Riley.

"It was that Angel guy, wasn't it? He just snaps his fingers and says jump, and Buffy will say how high." Riley was no longer concerned, he was angry. He was not sharing Buffy's attention with a vampire. It was unholy.

This time, Willow did trip him. Riley fell flat on his face. "That was an awful thing to say, Riley. Well guess what? You don't have to worry about Angel stealing her back, because he's dead!"

Riley peeled himself off the floor. "He's been dead for two hundred years. If he's dust, it's just nature taking its course."

"Every thing is black and white to you. Well, this is Sunnydale, and every thing is a shade of gray. I'm a witch, Anya used to be a demon, Spike is a vampire, Giles was in a demonic cult, and we're the good guys. Until you understand that not everything fits into you're narrow view of the world, you'll never belong here."

Cordelia's bright idea for Buffy to find out what was in the box was to pose as herself and go to Wolfram and Heart. It was time to see if it would work as she placed the phone call.

"I have some information about the vampire called Angel."

Lindsey sits straight up in his chair. "What kind of information?"

Buffy gave Cordelia a thumbs up. "Meet me at Midnight Café in forty five minutes."

Lindsey was dressed casually when he arrived. Buffy had gone totally leather, following Faith's instructions to feed these people's preconceptions. "You said you had something for me."

"I was told you've been trying to bump off this guy for months. I just took care of him for you." Buffy's face was a frigid mask, something she had seen on Kendra and picked up.

"We sent a Slayer and an Arachnid demon after this guy. Why should I believe you killed him?"

Buffy leaned over, and put her face right next to his. "Because I'm the real Slayer. The true chosen for her generation. Faith, she's just a cheap substitute."

Lindsey wasn't sure he had believed the rumors about there being two Slayers anymore than Angel once dating her. Until this moment. "Do you have proof?"

Buffy slipped a chain from her neck. On it was a piece of the Master's bone, a scrap of one of Spike's red shirt stuffed with gravel from Alcatha sewn shut with pieces of Miss Edith's hair, and one of the Mayor's scales. And of course, Angel's claddagh ring. Lindsey reached for it. "No, I don't think so. This goes to the Council when I kick the bucket." 

"I believe you. I assume you want some kind of reparation?" He was a lawyer, and even if she was a Slayer, she still was human. At least that's what the chemists told them.

"I want to know what was in the box."

Lindsey thought on that for a moment. Without Angel, Darla was useless. In fact, after he reported Angel's death, she'd probably be thrown into the sun. "We raised his sire from Hell. Her name is Darla, age approximately four to five hundred years."

Buffy slammed her hand onto the table. "You brought Darla back! You idiots! That woman once tried to destroy the world."

"That wasn't in my files." Lindsey wrote it down on a notepad. "We had to wipe her time in hell from her mind so she was an efficient weapon. She's living in an place underground in South LA."

"You don't need her any more. Give me the address." Buffy took the sheet of paper offered.

Darla had received the call from her contacts less than five minutes ago, and she rushed to pack. Angel was dead, in the Slayer's arms no less, and her purpose was no more.

She heard the door open and shut. "Lilah?"

"Not a chance. Long time no see Darla." Buffy leaned in the doorway.

"Buffy. When they said the Slayer had killed Angel, I assumed it was your replacement. I see you finally tired of him as I did." Darla slammed shut her suitcase.

"Give it up, Darla. You don't belong here. You turned to dust, you should have stayed that way." Buffy points her crossbow.

"We wouldn't want that, now. You know, last time we were in this position, Angel saved you. What are you ever going to do without him?" Darla grins at the vampires creeping up behind Buffy.

"A lot more than you are." Buffy fires the dart, and even before it hits, she spins stakes in hand. The two vampires turned to dust, and Buffy turned back to Darla. She had the bolt from Buffy's crossbow in her shoulder. "You know what's funny about us?"

Darla growled. "What?"

"We both turned Angel away because of his soul. We both loved him, just different parts. And neither of us are meant to be alive." Buffy fired another bolt, and as Darla turned to dust Buffy got in one last jibe. "Say hello to the Master in Hell for me."

Buffy was back in Sunnydale to collect her stuff. She had entrusted Faith into Giles' care, and went to pack. She found Riley waiting for her. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard what went down in LA. I thought you could use some company." Riley reached for her, and she slapped his hand away.

"We're over, Riley. I'm not staying in Sunnydale." Buffy began to empty her closet.

"Why are you going back to LA? There's nothing for you there." Riley tried to halt her packing. 

"Yes, there is. The Hellmouth is closed, but LA's defenseless." Buffy simply stepped around him.

"Buffy, we need you here. There are still a lot of vampires here."

"Faith's taking over. I need to be back to LA in six hours, so move it or lose it." Buffy began to pack her dresser.

"What about college? Are you going to abandon your future for a dead vampire?" Riley was beginning to wonder if Buffy was really the person that he thought she was. 

"I was excepted to UCLA last year. They've taken my transfer. Besides, I have no future. I am the first Slayer in decades to live past eighteen. Without Angel, I'm not really hopeful of living past twenty five." Buffy showed no remorse for her inevitable death.

"I can protect you." Riley took her hand. "I thought we were in love."

"You screwed Faith! You couldn't even tell it wasn't me. Tara never met me, and she knew. Hell, even Spike figured it out after a while." Buffy tore herself away. "I'd like you to leave."

After Riley left, Buffy picked up the phone and dialed the number of Wolfram and Heart one last time. "Darla's dust."

"What can I say? Thank you, Miss Summers." Lindsey was sure his troubles were finally over.

"One more thing, Lindsey. You're next." Buffy smirked.

"Excuse me?"

"You're next. Every rumor, every whisper you've heard from the demon community about a Slayer and a vampire? They're true. Angel and I were lovers, and while he died in my arms, I sure as hell couldn't kill him again. I've been entrusted with his position."

"His position?" Lindsey's good hand touched his magical prosthesis. 

"I'll be around, and your little law firm is going down if it's the last thing I do. That was in your little scroll too, it turns out. You dug your grave, Lindsey. Now you lie in it." Buffy hung up the phone, and had to smile.

"Are you ready?" Cordelia finished drawing the chalk circle around Buffy.

"Are you gonna tell me what I'm supposed to remember?" Buffy laid perfectly still inside the circled pentagram.

"No."

"Then I'm ready."

Cordelia lit the incense. She could only hope this would work. "Let her memories return. Let what was lost, now be returned. Let her remember!"

White light encompassed the pentagram. "LET HER REMEMBER!"

And then Buffy was far away.

__

Angel slides across the floor, picking up the demon's sword and stabs it in the gut while it is still wrestling with Buffy. Some of its fluorescent green blood runs down the sword onto Angel's hand. The demon jumps back causing Buffy to land on top of Angel, pulls the sword out and jumps out of the window. Angel and Buffy stare at each other as they slowly untangle themselves and get up.

"Friend of yours?"

"Never saw it before."

"It was rude. We should go kill it."

"I'm free."

"Got somewhere I can change?"

This is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. But perhaps, it is the end of the beginning.

?The End?

Author's Notes: This story was started on January 16th, and finished July 6th. This was the culmination of three drafts and sleepless nights. Please send me your responses at [cobalite@yahoo.com.][1]

   [1]: mailto:cobalite@yahoo.com.



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